BROMSGROVE’ S flooding taskforce has issued a stark warning to the council that if action is not taken to better manage the risk of flooding across the district, the impact could be devastating.

The group, which was set up last summer, has heard evidence from all key agencies responsible for managing flood risk in the county including Worcestershire County Council, North Worcestershire Water Management, Bromsgrove District Council and Severn Trent Water.

In a report submitted to Bromsgrove District Council, it has recommended that two full time specialist land drainage officers for Bromsgrove are appointed and a publicity campaign within the local community is organised to raise the profile of North Worcestershire Water Management, the work it does and how the public can get in contact.

It also called for the responsible authorities to publish a timetable of road sweeping and gully cleaning across the district.

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Chairman of the taskforce and Bromsgrove Liberal Democrat leader, Councillor Rob Hunter was inspired to set up the group after listening to residents’ concerns in Lickey End.

“I was hearing from more and more residents who were concerned flooding was becoming more common and felt the council wasn’t doing enough to tackle the problem.,” said Rob.

“After 12 months of scrutinising the issue with colleagues on the flooding working group, I realised this wasn’t just a problem in Lickey End, but across the whole district.

“I urge the conservative cabinet to implement our recommendations in full as soon as possible.

“We know climate change is upon us, we must act now to protect local communities.”

The cabinet is due to report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the autumn with its proposals

Bromsgrove District Council declared a climate change emergency in 2019 and Worcestershire County Council declared a climate change emergency last month.